When you first run HandMap it will display the main menu screen. Tap on the "Maps..." button, then select the map you want to view, then tap the "View" button.

You should then go to the map view screen, with the map displayed at an initial zoom level of x1. This is the outermost zoom level. You can change the zoom by tapping on the “x1” selector. You can then choose the zoom level from x1 to x128.

The default options will be configured to only show major landmarks & roads at the outer zoom levels, showing more detail as you zoom in. Try setting the options yourself (View/Options menu). You can set eight different categories of features and what zoom level they become visible.

Below is a quick visual guide to the controls and display:

Navigation

Tap on the scroll tabs to scroll in that direction (by half a screen). Select the zoom popup list at the bottom of the screen to select a zoom level directly.

When in 'Normal' mode (the default) you can re-center the viewing position by double tapping on the map, then selecting the 'Re-centre' popup menu item. When in Drag mode you can hold down your stylus on the map and drag it to move the map. Release the stylus to conclude your movement.

Tip: If the map drawing is taking to long, simply tap anywhere on the screen to interrupt it.

Searching

The view position can also be changed by searching for a street or landmark. Tap the Magnifying glass button, then tap on 'for Name...' from the popup list to popup the search dialog. Just start entering the name (usually the first 3 or 4 letters is enough) and select the street or landmark from the list. Tap on 'Go to' to move the viewport to the centre of the selected object (object will be flashing). Tap on 'Set as target' to keep the viewport the same, but have the arrow point to where the object is.

Tip: To quickly search for a street or landmark by name, simply start entering the Graffiti letters of the name when viewing the map, and the search dialog will automatically pop up.

If there are multiple occurrences of the object (ie. with the same name), the item will be preceded with a '+' in the list. When one of these items is selected the main screen will have the following displayed at the bottom:

tapping the 'previous' and 'next' buttons selects the other objects with the same name.

Intersection Search

Tap the Magnifying glass button, then select the 'for Intersection...' item from the popup list. Now start entering the name of the first street and select it from the list. Tap on the second name input field and start typing the name and select the street from the list below. Tap on either 'Go to' or 'Set as target' to find the intersection. If the two streets intersect the dialog is dismissed and the map is centred exactly over the intersection (if 'Go to' was selected), or set as the target.

Displaying a Street or Landmark Name

Just tap on the street or landmark and after a slight pause the object should flash, with the name being displayed in the a floating box on the screen. If nothing happens the tap was considered a miss - just try tapping again. A guide to getting better hit rates is to tap as follows:

Tapping near the mid-points of street segments will produce better hits, as tapping on the actual intersections (or bends) can be ambiguous.

When a park or body of water is bounded by streets, tapping on the streets can easily be confused with tapping on the park (or body of water). If you are mainly concerned with streets, check the 'Ignore areas' Check box in the Options dialog. When this is checked the area type objects are ignored when tapping.

When in Normal mode you can also drag the pen around the map to get names of objects. A floating window should appear near the object displaying the name. If you are left-handed you can set an option (in the Options dialog) so that the floating windows are displayed to the right of the pen (easier to see).

Switching Maps

Tap on the 'home' icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen to go back to the Main Menu screen. Then select "Maps..." button to get a list of currently installed maps. You can delete maps here when you no longer use them. To switch maps, just select it in the list then press the 'View' button. You can also switch maps by double tapping on the map screen and choosing the Switch Maps menu. This will list only maps that cover the point you tapped on.

Important: You can view maps stored on external cards (CF, SD, MMC or MemoryStick), but you must store the map .PDB files in the "/Palm/Programs/HandMap" directory. On the map list screen tap on the Move button to move maps to or from RAM and the expansion card.

You can also traverse some maps by using the 'Links'. Some map have an "outer map" defined. Select the zoom-level popup-list, and select "Outer map..." to switch to the outer map (if defined).

Setting Options

Settings can be made to optimize map rendering and help with name querying. Select the 'View / Options...' menu to enter the options dialog. See below for a visual guide on the various settings available:

The pull down lists under the 'Show feature at:' label hold the zoom factor where the respective feature type becomes visible. So, if the first one (Freeways & Highways) is set to x2 then Freeways & Highways will only be drawn at zoom factors x2, x4, x8 and onwards (up to the greatest magnification).

Typically, you should set the smaller sized or more abundant features to only show at greater magnifications (otherwise you will have to wait for a long time each time the map has to be redrawn).

Below is a guide to what the various icons represent:

Linking Address Book Records to Map Locations

There is an optional component you can install on your Palm with the filename 'addr-plugin.pdb'. This should be contained in the distribution ZIP file. Install this onto your Palm device if you want to create custom point markers.

Once you've install this PDB file, start the HandMap application and tap on the small book icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, then select the 'Settings...' popup item. Here you can configure which Custom field HandMap will use to store the position information into your Address Book records. There are four custom fields which the Address Book application supports. Simply select one of these from the popup list, or just leave it at the default.

Important: Make sure no other Palm application wants to use the custom field you select.

You define points of interest by double tapping on the point where you wish to create a marker, then select 'Link to Addr...' from the popup menu. You will be prompted with the following dialog:

A custom 'Place' can either be displayed as an Icon, or as text (a Label). Icons are displayed using the icon of your choice, chosen from the group below.

Labels are any text (up to 18 chars), and divided into two types: major & minor. Major labels are visible at the outer zoom levels (x2 .. x8), and minor labels are visible at the more inner zoom levels (x8 .. x16).

Once you have finished entering the details tap the 'OK' button.

Looking up Address Book Entries

Tap the small book icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, then select the 'Addresses...' popup item. You should be presented with a dialog listing all of the Address Records which have a location stored in the custom field. Tap on the one you are looking for, then tap the 'Show' button. The map should then be re-centred at the location of that Address entry. If nothing happens then that Address location is outside the bounds of the current map.

Note: You can only search for addresses that you have previously linked. It does not lookup the street name automatically.

GPS Tracker

To install the GPS tracker, install the 'gps-plugin.pdb' file, contained in the distribtion ZIP file.

You should see a small satellite dish icon in the bottom-right corner of HandMap, once the plugin is installed. Tap on this to select GPS functions. The main function you will use is the On/Off function. This turns the GPS receiver on or off.

Select the 'settings...' item to pop up the settings dialog.

To start the tracking function select the communications port your GPS receiver uses from the pull-down list after the 'Port:' prompt. Now tap the 'On' button. If in 4 seconds, the connection could not be made or the proper initializing couldn't be done, then an error message is displayed.

NMEA receivers: You must set the connection options on the receiver to the following:

The current status of the receiver is displayed on the Info page. You should see the raw GPS data scrolling down the bottom half of the Info page. If there is no scrolling text then it is not connected - try another port or switch/off/on. The Acquisition phase can take up to 2 minutes, and varies depending on problems with reception. When a longitude/latitude position is displayed the receiver has got a 3D fix. You can tap the 'Done' button at any time to see when the position is updated.

Initially, the map may be moved to a position off the edges of the map. When a 3D fix has been made, the position should jump to your correct position. If you don't want the map to move automatically set uncheck the 'Move map' checkbox.

If all has gone OK, the position cursor should move in sync with your actual position.

Hardware Button Use

From the map view screen, you can select the "Buttons.." menu to configure the hardware buttons for custom actions. You can assign pan/zoom or GPS functions to the 4 hardware buttons. Choose a configuration that suits your needs.

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Copyright 2005 HandMap Co.